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Tuesday, 29 July 2014

June and July 2014

Hello again Folks,I've been busy rolling along with more Bolt Action related stuff, a few more Germans have been assembled or painted, and the Church mentioned in my last post has also been assembled more completely, but it is not finished yet and so has not been completely glued, but the front is looking more stone coloured than before. I have also played three more Bolt Action Games since my May post was written (I apologise it was alot later published than planned, so these two posts are very close together). The first game was my Late War germans vs Late War British, and was a great game, my church was the centre piece of the game, and really changed the way the game was played, as the forces split around it and so two battles took place on the same board! Plus despite being an eventual loss, it was a game with a decidingly amusing circumstance, my troops are awful when it comes to rolling hits and wounds on a dice, so I was shocked when my Lieutenant and his bodyguard blasted away 4 enemies in one round of shooting (they both have SMGs, so 2 shots each, both hit and both wounded!), then even more so (not as much as my opponent, whose shocked expression was priceless at this next bit), my Colonel and his bodyguard, who are similarly armed with SMGs, rolled 2 hits out of 2 shots each, and wounded on all 4 as well! 8 kills for 8 shots from my officer units was an amusing and defiant way to end a game full of bad luck.The second game was my Late War British and US force vs a Late War German Panzergrenadier force, I lost, but some great moments were had. My highlight was a squad of Commandos, all armed with SMGs and 1 with an LMG, assaulted a Half-track carrying the German commander, and destroyed it. leaving the officer to walk, although he was stuck there until the Commandos were killed. I realised after the game he should have jumped out and defended the half-track according to the rules, but this wasn't realistic anyway as he was alone and would have been outnumbered 8 to 1!My third game (two days ago) and is pictureless, was my Late War Germans vs the Russians, who won without a second thought about it. My dice rolls were a disgrace to wargaming, misses and failed morale rolls all around! The Tiger was destroyed before it could do anything, and the Panzer IV was destroyed shortly after in Turn 2 before it could destory the Russian tank that terrorised my army for the rest of the game.In other news, the main British player at Dice and Decks made an interesting suggestion - as I have a desert coloured Realm of Battle gameboard - of which 4' by 4' of it is finished, why not collect another new Bolt Action force each for the Desert campaign! I agreed, and we've decided to be a bit more organised as these forces will be specific for a board and opponent, which means we won't be going overboard straight off the bat! He chose the British 8th Army, and I will be collecting the Afrika Korps. I have ordered the Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps set (these arrived last week), and am also using a few extra men from the Early War German sprues I ordered to make up correct sized units (I was intending to use Late War models, but they are big when compared to the Perry Miniatures Afrika Korps models). This force will represent my Late War German army from earlier in the war, so I have already built some models - a representation of the Lieutenant from my 1st platoon, in the Desert, so the pose is similar, but with a slight alteration , his MP40 is being held down and he is using binoculars rather than holding an MP40 in one hand as he points with the other. Another is a Artillery/Air observer with a radio, who looks good so far. I am very excited about this force as it is such a different kettle of fish from the Late War. Although I intend to get one British thing for the desert - the M3 Grant, as this is my favourite WW2 tank due to a book I read when I was 11. We between us, stated the end of July as the original date for our first desert game, but due to the fact we've both flown through the buying stage and are now building our armies, we've decided to try and get a game on the desert board this Friday!!! So I have got some vehicles on the way as my opponent has been sneaky and got his already! A Sherman II and a Dingo scout car are the enemy's big toys! I have a Hanomag and Sdk Fz 7 for transport, and a Panzer III Ausf L for my big puncher!

The Perry Miniatures DAK box

A new Hanomag from my June purchases

A few of the DAK models assembled and started to be painted

My converted officer (mentioned below) with my DAK Lieutenant

Most of my DAK force so far

In more good news, my Flak 2.0cm 38 on wheeled trailor has finally arrived over 4 weeks later than planned, but it is also swapping into the Afrika Korps force as it came with free crew! One of whom is wearing shorts, so can only be Afrika Korps, one is now my Major for the Afrika Korps force (a slight error, as the seated 3rd crewman doesn't fit so I need to make a new 3rd crewman for the weapon). It is assembled as shown below and I am very chuffed so far (if a bit weary of the thin barrel of the gun!). Also shown is the Major, with his conversion - an MP40 slung over the right soldier, the sling is comprised of pieces of sling taken from other rifle slings on varous sprues.

Crew of the 20mm Flak Gun

The assembled 20mm Flak gun on its wheeled trailer, something I've always wanted for this game for a while

I've also had a proper game of Bolt Action using this Afrika Korps force against a British 8th Army force on my Games Workshop Realm of Battle Desert Board, the game went well, being a game of attrition with an additional objective to take and hold on the top of the hill to the right of the board in the pictures shown below.All of my DAK infantry squads carry anti-tank grenades and this was used to great effect on the enemy Sherman (and destroying it that same turn) that had taken out my Panzer Ausf III Ausf L early in the game, my troops also fought to the last man on top of the hill holding the objective, as large numbers of British troopers assaulted it, althought the British Command Squad was obliterated by my Forward Observer landing a heavy howitzer direct hit on it, doing huge amounts of damage to the three man squad.

The desert board, showing the hill on the right of the board that had the objective on it

Taken out by that Sherman, about to be attacked by the infantry squad in the Hanomag which drove out in front of it

The rest of the force takes the hill, on the top left you can see British 8th Army troops charging the hill

British Veteran Infantry skirt round the bottom of the hill, watched by the DAK Lieutenant, Infantry and Sdk Fz 8

Infantry Squad destroys the Sherman

Since these occurences I have also been back Airsofting, and now have my own gun and gear for this, after a bit of time spent thinking, and using my Digital Woodland pattern USMC uniform, I have decided to try and go down the route of a US Vietnam War loadout, so my airsoft gun is an M16 from the start of the Vietnam War, with three-pronged flash suppressor and no forward assist device on the receiver. I also have soem new webbing and a helmet on the way as well. Thus why I haven't been doing many wargaming things this last month.

I have also tried using Bolt Action for the Vietnam War, shown in the pictures above, however, this isn't a massive change, using squads of around 7 men and still using assault rifles as 2 shot 24" range weapons, but using alot of cover. However, more men and equipment/vehicles might alter the way it plays.

This last game was a British and American force against my German Late War force (which is expecting a new toy) boosted by the Anti-tank rifle team, forward observer, Hanomag and Panzer III. A great game, although it didn't finish, it did get going, and my Tiger I actually did something and destroyed a Universal Carrier first shot of the game, and had a crack at a Churchill, but only stalled it at game's end. Bad dice rolling once again cost my infantry dearly, few casualties by my shooting dice rolls, and good dice rolling by my opponents saw my infantry dissappear.

The field from last Friday's game (25.7.14)

My force in the deployment zone, viewed from the left flank (sorry for the skewed view)

View from the Anti-tank team's position across the board

This week I am going to be playing Batman: The Miniatures Game, so I've been painting miniatures for this as well. I am very pleased with how my Batman from The Dark Knight Rises film, he has the right colour on the armour and the cape is a suitably different shade from the rest of the model.

Batman and the Ninjas of the League of Shadows, the unpainted model in front is an NVA from The Assault Group.

I'll give a report of how this game played next week hopefully! I'm also starting yet again to paint my Late War Germans, including some variant colour schemes, and the Afrika Korps, with reinforcements coming as well.So until next time folks!